Tuesday, June 01, 1999
Maysville mayor 3rd in family
Mom, grandma showed the way
BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MAYSVILLE, Ky. — The men in his family have been politically active for six generations, but new Mayor David Cartmell has taken the most inspiration from some of the women they married.
His mother, Harriett Hord Cartmell, and grandmother, Rebekah Hord — whom he called visionaries — also were mayors of this Ohio River town.
“All through my younger years, I was always riding a fire truck, with my grandmother being mayor (and) my mother was always involved in public service projects,” said Mr. Cartmell, who was elected last fall.
“They imprinted me quite young. (Being mayor) was something I always wanted to do.”
Mr. Cartmell, 48, only hopes he can fill their shoes. He said the women were strong-willed Democrats ahead of their times and always looking out for Maysville's future.
He credits his grandmother, who was mayor from 1950 to 1962, for leading efforts to build the city's floodwall. The project, he said, has guaranteed continued investment in downtown, which sits on the banks of the Ohio River.
His mother was elected mayor in 1986 and, during her four-year tenure, her knowledge of planning issues helped Maysville develop in a controlled manner, he said.
She took graduate planning courses at the University of Cincinnati and had been a planning commissioner before becoming mayor.
She also was known as a hemp advocate. She believed that farmers should be able to grow hemp and that people should be able to use marijuana for medicinal purposes.
People magazine and David Letterman took an interest in her because of these relative eccentricities. She became the subject of a People story, but her son talked her out of accepting David Letterman's invitation to appear on TV.
Mr. Cartmell, a Democrat like his mother and grandmother, remembers being concerned that his mother would be the target of the irreverent talk show host's biting humor.
He had talked her into running for mayor because she wanted to make a difference.
Now, Mr. Cartmell would like to do the same. The tobacco grower and president of the Maysville Tobacco Board of Trade aims to spend the next years helping Maysville keep its small-town charm, perhaps with more parks, while keeping pace with the area's development.
He has noted the Mason County city of about 8,700 residents is bound for change as the state's first cable-stayed bridge nears completion about three miles west of town. Construction began in spring 1997 and should be done by August 2000.
In the meantime, the new mayor wishes his mother and grandmother, both deceased, could witness him following in their footsteps.
“They would be thrilled,” he said. “I'm probably carrying out some of the same visions that my mother and grandmother had.”
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